Library weekly: Ustadh Mau

Ustadh Mahmoud Mau at the British Institute in Eastern Africa in Nairobi, 2009 (Source: Ustadh Mau’s private archive)On 20 February 1952, Muslim scholar, poet and imam Mahmoud Ahmed Abdulkadir, commonly known as Ustadh Mau, was born on Lamu island. Since the 1970s, audio recordings and, to a lesser extent, printed versions of his poems have been circulating on the Kenyan coast and beyond. His poetry covers overarching sociopolitical issues and (often practical) matters of concern to the community. Ustadh Mau is featured in our Library Weekly.